Integrated Alarm merger vote announced

A date has been set for the Integrated Alarm Services Group Inc. stockholder vote to decide whether the company should be merged with Protection One Inc.

The vote is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 27 at the Desmond Hotel in Colonie. Stockholders of the Albany-based alarm-monitoring company can vote by proxy via mail or in person.

In December, alarm-monitoring firm Protection One Inc. of Lawrence, Kansas, offered IASG stockholders 0.29 of a share of Protection for each IASG share held. That puts the value of the deal at about $85 million.

After the merger is completed, Protection would have 25.3 million shares outstanding, with former IASG shareholders owning 28 percent of the company. IASG would choose two members for the new Protection One board.

The IASG name would disappear, as would the firm’s Albany headquarters.

IASG monitors about 745,000 burglar and fire alarm contracts for 9,000 dealers around the country, and owns alarm-monitoring stations in New Jersey, Minnesota and California.

The company has been under pressure to sell, and officials said the proposed merger had been in the works for more than a year.